at then, but which, the chief said, would be
good in midwinter. They had taken the precaution to gather them by his
advice--he having made some large baskets of the pliable twigs of
willow, in which they were conveyed from the trees to the temple, where
they were deposited in the room they occupied.

"The fire will injure them," said the chief. "We must put them in
another room in order to save them."

"There is one adjoining us, that opens like ours from the hall. We can
clear out that as we did this, and make it a store house. We shall need
some place to keep our fruit and nuts in, which it is time now to
gather, and also our dried venison," said the trapper. "It is best to
make ourselves as comfortable as we can while here, for as the winter
will soon be on us, nothing but an especial providence can get us out
of the scrape we are in, until the weather is warm enough for us to
travel again."

"I am the cause of your wintering here. If it had not been for me, you
would all have been home now, instead of being, we don't know where,"
said Sidney, who was often gloomy in his weakened state.

"Perhaps we should, and then, perhaps, we might have wandered into a
worse place. Indeed, we ought to be thankful for the shelter and fruits
we have found. I hardly think many that are carried away by savages,
escape as well as we have, and then find such winter quarters," said
Jane, glancing complacently round the room, for, to tell the truth, she
felt a sort of pride in the ample blazing fire, soft skin-carpeted
floor, numerous seats, with gay colored skins thrown over them, and
their couches, on which they slept, neatly spread over with skins,
while at one corner, in a little nook screened from view by skins
joined together and hung around, was a couch appropriated to her own
use, covered with the finest furs they had taken--for the trapper had
set his snares from the first day of their abode there, and their store
of furs and skins was fast accumulating.

"We are here, that is a fact that cannot be doubted," said the trapper,
"and if I knew the way out, and had my rifle, ammunition, a supply of
hounds and traps with me, I would not leave it until spring, if I
could, for the whole valley is filled with the right kind of game.
There is a beaver dam a mile down the stream, which contains some of
the finest coated fellows I ever saw. I have got some more there, and
will show fur that is fur, or else I will give you leave to call